


The Mistaken Title

by w_x_2



Category: Strike Back
Genre: M/M, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-05 04:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11570013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/w_x_2/pseuds/w_x_2
Summary: When Damien joins Michael and his son the mood between them is tense.Michael laughs nervously and then rushes to explain, “Finn thought you and I were together so he called me...”





	The Mistaken Title

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Not my characters, no harm intended, no profit made.

Michael's just finished giving Damien's kid a great piece of advice when _it_ happens.

 

Finn smiles wide as he gives his thanks and Michael's eyes widen right at the end of Finn's gratitude, more specifically, at the last word that the younger man uses.

 

“Finn?” he questions in hesitation, rooted to the spot as he looks at Damien's son with blood rushing loudly through his body at the shock.

 

The door to the apartment they are in opens but Michael doesn't look away from Finn, he knows it's Damien without having to check.

 

“Hum,” Finn splays his hands, he looks off to the side, towards the door and the new person in the room before he looks back at Michael.

 

The door closes and the Sergeant hears, “Everything alright?” It's no surprise that he recognizes the voice as belonging to Damien, he's gotten used to _feeling_ the man whenever his partner is near him.

 

“Well,” Finn slowly begins as he leans his weight from foot to foot.

 

“Mikey?” Damien asks in a slightly alarmed tone.

 

“I'm sorry if I overstepped,” Finn apologizes. “But you two-”

 

Michael is swift to interrupt as he shakes his head, “No, no.”

 

“No?” Finn asks confusedly, looking back at his father for a second before looking back at Michael.

 

“No,” Michael firmly answers.

 

“Oh,” Finn breathes in realization, wavering in his position as he brings up a hand to bite at a thumb.

 

“Mikey? Finn?” Damien asks.

 

Finn drops his arm down and moves both hands behind his back. “Sorry,” Finn apologizes with red cheeks. “But _thank you_ ,” he enunciates with a tilt of his head.

 

“Any time,” Michael is happy to assure. “The advice,” he clarifies in case there's any doubt because Finn shouldn't really be using _that_ word from earlier when referring to his father's friend.

 

“Of course,” Finn nods, swallows and once again utters, “Sorry.” With his sincere apology completed he turns to take a step away.

 

Michael thinks about Finn's worry and regret filled look and speaks up to stop him from moving further away, “Look, I'm honoured, I am. It's just that...” he trails off.

 

“I get it,” Finn responds after meeting his gaze again so that Michael doesn't have to explain himself and yet again adds, “ _Sorry_.”

 

“You don't have to apologize, like I said I'm ho-”

 

Fin interrupts him before he can repeat himself, “Yeah, I _know_.”

 

“You two wanna tell me what's going on?” Damien pipes up when Finn turns towards him again.

 

Finn gives him a nervous smile. “No,” he decidedly answers as he walks sideways, towards the exit door. “I was on my way out, so I'm gonna go,” he voices as he keeps moving to indicate that this is something he's definitely not going to talk about with him.

 

“Mikey?” Damien prompts after he watches his son close the door behind himself.

 

Michael looks away from the door he too had been watching as Finn had exited and replies, “Don't worry about it.”

 

“Mikey,” Damien repeats in a more exigent tone.

 

“Really, it's nothing,” he even tags on a small smile at the end despite not quite meeting Damien's gaze.

 

“My son just apologised to you,” Damien retorts and then walks further inside the room.

 

Michael winces and brings up a hand to scratch the side of his neck. “It was... uh-” he pauses, looking for the best word, “Unexpected.”

 

“Why are you measuring your words? Just tell me.”

 

“Just–” he breathes in, stops fidgeting, meets Damien's gaze and tries again. “You know, don't worry.” So he's not being very convincing, but he knows that he can't keep this from Damien if his friend really wants to know because it's kinda his right.

 

“Tell me,” Damien utters in a friendly manner.

 

“Hum, right,” Michael exhales slowly through his nose, eyes flicking off to the side before they return to Damien's open but also expectant expression. “You see...”

 

“No,” Damien answers with an arched eyebrow when Michael trails off and doesn't continue.

 

“Hang on,” Michael stresses.

 

“I _am_.”

 

Michael sighs. “It's been a few years since you officially died and...” Michael stops, his mouth opens again but no sound comes out.

 

“And?” Damien encourages.

 

“And I've been hanging around since then,” Michael explains as he opens his hands wide, arms bent at the elbows so his forearms are in front of him.

 

It's a defensive posture, there's no way that Damien misses it, but he doesn't remark upon it. Instead he replies with a curt, “Right.” His patience is clearly decreasing the more he has to push his partner into continuing.

 

“And Finn's a good kid.”

 

“Mikey,” Damien warns as he takes another step towards Michael so that they are within an arm's length. “Spit it out.”

 

Michael brings a hand up to his face, covering his whole face before rubbing it up and then slowly down, eyes opening to lock with Damien's as he reveals, “He called me Dad.”

 

“He what?”

 

Michael laughs nervously and then rushes out, “He thought you and I were together, so...”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“ _Oh,_ ” Damien replies as it sinks in further, his kid called his best friend Dad because he thought that they were fucking, not just that, but thought that they were an item. “You gave him some advice and he called you–”

 

“It was some pretty good advice,” he replies in his defence.

 

“About?” he curiously asks.

 

“The girl he's dating.”

 

“He's going steady with Raja?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“That's good.”

 

“Hm,” Michael sounds in agreement.

 

“And he called you Dad,” he repeats.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Right.”

 

“I'm sorry man,” Michael replies with the corner of a lip arched into a wince once more.

 

Damien's hand comes up to lay on Michael's shoulder to stop him apologizing. “Well, to be honest, you've become as much a Dad to him as I have.”

 

“Damien.”

 

“It's true, like you said you have been present for as long as I have.”

 

“We're not together,” Michael protests.

 

Damien stares at him and slowly utters, “If that's the only problem, we can fix that.”

 

“Damien,” Michael utters as his face turns serious.

 

Damien arches an eyebrow and shrugs, “Or we spin the truth a little.”

 

Michael shakes his head, he's not letting Damien just brush that offer aside. “There's a massive gap between fucking once, maybe twice, a year and becoming... _you know._ ”

 

“Is there really though?”

 

Michael thinks about Damien who he doesn't just fuck once or twice -maybe thrice- a year but who he has known for a decade, the man that has been by his side one way or another for the majority of ten years. It's not just knowing one another inside out in a professional capacity, it's not just having his back and saving his ass countless times.

 

Damien also knows him inside out as a friend, makes him laugh, distracts him from dark memories, wakes him up from nightmares and sits with him when the nights are too long. Damien is the man who Michael helped to officially kill so that he could leave the Intelligence Service and live the life he wanted while he could, the man who Michael followed in Damien's search of a new life and helped him to build a new life of his own – Michael didn't have much else besides his partner and his career, but truth is he did give it all up without a shred of doubt.

 

The everyday comrade, comfort and fulfilment that Damien brings him makes it so that Michael hasn't looked for someone to make a life with since Damien's faked death.

 

Michael has indeed found a new life for himself, one with Damien and Finn.

 

And really, if Damien wants it, which Michael knows he does because otherwise he wouldn't be offering, then no, it isn't that much of a leap from what they have now to become what Damien's suggested.

 

It won't even be that different in their every day to day life, but he is most certainly looking forward to the change in their night routine. Getting to repeatedly sleep next to Damien and wake up next to him, and well, the increased intimacy will also be pretty great, has been up until now every single time. The memories have been enough to fuel his solo time despite the magnitude of time between them being intimate, but he's looking forward to not having to manage, to be able to touch as much as he wants, when he wants.

 

“Unless you're not okay with being called Dad,” Damien teases after he sees the gears turning in Michael's mind.

 

Michael chuckles and takes a step forward, leaving only a breadth of space between them. “Your kid is all sorts of amazing.”

 

“It's settled then,” Damien utters as he unhurriedly leans in. “We won't even have to spin the truth.”

 

“You're the one who has to break it to Finn.”

 

“Come on, you should be happy about telling him.”

 

“I just told him we were _not_ together and said no to him calling me Dad.”

 

“When you put it that wa-”

 

“Ei!” Michael pushes at Damien's shoulder. “You're supposed to say it'll be fine.”

 

“I don't have to tell you that,” Damien gently replies as he allows his arms to encircle Michael, lips connecting with Michael's neck for a soft and tender kiss. “It's obvious that Finn will be fine with this.”

 

“You say that,” Michael murmurs as he tilts his head to expose his neck further to Damien's caresses. “So I'll let you scope out the field, your turn to take a hit.”

 

“You should know by now that I'll always take a hit for you.”

 

Michael moans in content, both at the sensation of Damien softly nosing at his skin and -mostly- at the rush of love that washes over his whole being at hearing Damien's words.


End file.
